“Reflecting on ‘Toy Story’: Insights on Identity, Purpose, and Change

Toy Story was one of my favorite childhood movies. I got a Buzzlight Year for one of my birthdays. As an adult, I’m excited that my toddler daughter also loves the Toy Story movies. I can’t wait for us to watch Toy Story 5 together.

After repeatedly watching the Toy Story movies for as long as this phase will last with my daughter, I get a whole new perspective than when I watched these movies as a kid.

1. It’s Important to Know Yourself.

In the first Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear doesn’t realize he’s a toy. He thinks he’s a real spaceranger with a deadly laser and can fly. This doesn’t seem to bother most of Andy’s toys except for Woody, who is already jealous that Buzz is Andy’s new favorite. 

But more than anything, Woody wants Buzz to recognize that his purpose is to be played with. Buzz thinks that he landed on an unknown planet when he was bought from a store for a kid to play with. 

This also taught me how we as adults can hallucinate that we’re more important than we really are, smarter than we are, more attractive than we are. It’s necessary to have confidence in ourselves, but we also need to stay in reality with where we’re are. 

I watched Jamie Foxx’s latest Netflix Special, and he talked about when he woke up in the hospital after suffering a stroke; he couldn’t believe that he had a stroke because he was Jamie Foxx. Jamie Foxx doesn’t suffer from strokes. But Jamie Foxx had to realize that he bleeds like every other human being, and when he had a near-death experience, it was only his closest family that was there by his side.

Later in the movie, Buzz attempts to fly but realizes he can’t. This realization puts Buzz in a temporary depression. The longer we lie to ourselves, the harder it is to face the truth.

Until Woody tells Buzz that there is no problem that Buzz can’t fly because he was never designed to actually fly. That’s like me being sad that I can’t breathe in the water like I breathe in oxygen. I wasn’t designed to breathe in water.

But when Buzz accepts that he is a toy, he uses his true identity to his advantage. Instead of flying, he learned how to fall with style. Humans have limitations to breathing underwater, so we created snorkels and oxygen tanks to offset our limitations.  

2. Be careful of chasing fortune and fame.

In Toy Story 2, Woody is stolen by an antique collector who needs Woody as the final piece for his auction. In the home where Woody is taken, he realizes that his image is more significant than being Andy’s toy. Woody is the star of his show, The Roundup Gang. And Woody has many items made in his image.

 At one point, Woody is willing to leave Andy and his toys to be sold in Japan, where many people would admire him. But Buzz warned Woody that if he went to Japan, he would merely be on display and never loved again by children.

Woody had to look at the bottom of his shoe and see Andy’s name to remember that he belonged to Andy. His purpose was to bring joy to Andy. The grass ain’t always greener on the other side. And everything that glitters ain’t gold. 

3. Misery loves company, and rejection is a powerful feeling. 

Toy Story 3 is my favorite out of the series. It’s the only movie that almost brought me to tears when Woody and his friends almost died in the dumpster fire. 

Lotso was a purple bear owned by Bonnie and was her favorite toy. When Bonnie took a road trip, she accidentally left Lotso and two other toys in the field. Lotso and his friends eventually made it back to Bonnie’s house, but when Lotso looked through Bonnie’s window and saw that he was replaced, it changed him forever.

Perspective significantly influences life, and we mustn’t jump to conclusions based on how we perceive things. There have been more times when I perceived a situation one way, and it turned out to be another way.

Lotso felt betrayed that Bonnie had replaced him, but the other two lost toys hadn’t been replaced. This proves that Lotso was Bonnie’s most valuable toy. If you died and your former spouse remarried someone who looks exactly like you, wouldn’t that make you feel like you were valued rather than dwelling on the fact that they got remarried?

But the other lost toys had an advantage. Despite Bonnie being able to live without them, they also could easily sneak back into Bonnie’s room as if they never left. In life, most things are not simply black and white. Most circumstances have gray areas. It’s great to be valued but also valuable to be forgotten. 

Even in the end, when Woody and Buzz save Lotso from being destroyed by the dumpster fire, Lotso uses them to save himself and leaves the other toys to die. Lotso’s perceived rejection by his owner left him so rotten that he saw no value in any other toy. Not even enough value for them to live.

This showed me how important it is to love yourself before you can love others. Once Lotso reached Sunny Side, he lost all love for himself so he couldn’t love any other toy.

4. We are worthy because we’re made in God’s image.

In Toy Story 4, Woody places the spork and other items on Bonnie’s desk; Bonnie creates a toy, which gains life. Bonnie made the toy in her image by giving it arms, legs, eyes, and a mouth. She also gave the toy a purpose–to be played with.

As a spork, it did not have life and no purpose other than to be used as a utensil and thrown away. However, once the spork was made in the image of a toy, it gained a new purpose.

This made me think about how God created us in his image. As spirits, we have a different purpose in the physical realm. But once God places us in a human body, we gain a new purpose.

Throughout Toy Story 4, all Sporky wanted to do was go to the trash. It took a long time for Sporky to recognize that his purpose was no longer a utensil. His new purpose was to be a toy. Just as it takes some humans a long time to recognize that their purpose  

Another lesson I learned is that some people will not favor us no matter what we do. Gabby Gabby was a doll in an antique shop and thought that if she had a new voice box, she would be wanted by a child. So Gabby Gabby stole Woody’s voice box, and when a child played with her, her new voice box disturbed the girl, and Gabby Gabby got left in the store.

This taught me that it’s okay to change things about your life that you want to enhance for yourself. But trying to make yourself perfect still won’t please everyone. Some people still won’t find you attractive, whether skinny or fat, brunette or blonde.

Lastly, Woody never wanted to be a lost toy. Even toys at daycares were considered lost. But at the end of Toy Story 4, Woody realizes that he would never be Bonnie’s favorite toy or even a toy she would play with. Woody accepted his new identity as a lost toy.

Life brings on changes, and we have to adapt to new identities. When my daughter was born, I had to accept that I couldn’t come home and play video games all day like I used to. It was hard to let go of an identity that I got accustomed to, but there’s nothing better than being a present father and seeing the excitement on my daughter’s face when she sees her daddy.